Galveston Coast Guard officer receives national honor

Published 4:23 pm, Sunday, February 3, 2013

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Petty Officer 1st Class Shane Goudswaard, assigned to Maritime Safety and Security Team in Galveston was presented the 2012 National Defense Industrial Association Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict Award for his actions in support of a counter drug and alien migration operation on the U.S. southern border with Mexico and a counter-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden.

Petty Officer 1st Class Shane Goudswaard, assigned to Maritime Safety and Security Team in Galveston was presented the 2012 National Defense Industrial Association Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict Award for his actions in support of a counter drug and alien migration operation on the U.S. southern border with Mexico and a counter-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden less

Petty Officer 1st Class Shane Goudswaard, assigned to Maritime Safety and Security Team in Galveston was presented the 2012 National Defense Industrial Association Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict ... more

Photo: Coast Guard Deployable Operation

Galveston Coast Guard officer receives national honor

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A Coast Guard officer from Galveston earned a national award for his efforts guarding the U.S.-Mexico border and protecting vessels from pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Shane Goudswaard received the 2012 National Defense Industrial Association Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict award on Jan. 28, which honors one member from each branch of the armed services who has distinguished him or herself while supporting special operations, low-intensity conflicts or irregular warfare.

Goudswaard was honored for his strategic placement of waterborne and land-based law enforcement patrols for the Coast Guard and U.S. Border Patrol. His efforts resulted in the completion of 371 maritime law enforcement boardings, the detention of 835 migrants, the interception of more than 1,600 pounds of marijuana and the collection of critical intelligence information used to end drug trafficking routes into the U.S.

Originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, Goudswaard joined the Coast Guard in 2000. The 31-year-old is part of the Maritime Safety and Security Team in Galveston.

"I joined the Coast Guard with the intention of doing law enforcement," Goudswaard said. "I enjoy it for the variety of missions and broad range of assignments that I get to do."

Goudswaard has worked with the Maritime Safety and Security Team for the past seven years. Part of his duties are to provide law enforcement for coastal areas and complete anti-terrorism missions that operate both in the U.S. and internationally.